Netanyahu, Visiting U.S., Is Stalked by Legal Troubles at Home

JERUSALEM — A former top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel turned state’s witness on Monday, the third close associate to agree to testify against him in a corruption scandal that threatens to end his career.

The deal came after days of feverish speculation in Israel that Mr. Netanyahu, beleaguered by police investigations and facing possible bribery charges, might call a snap election in hopes of a quick validation of public support.

News of the plea deal broke as Mr. Netanyahu was in Washington to meet with President Trump, diminishing any hope the Israeli leader may have held that his role on the international stage would overshadow the scandals back home.

Speaking to Israeli reporters in Washington, Mr. Netanyahu called the allegations “nonsense” and played down the importance of aides who have become government witnesses against him. But he declined to speak on the record about the case in any detail.

The latest government witness is Nir Hefetz, a former journalist who served as chief spokesman for Mr. Netanyahu from 2009 to 2011, and later returned to work as the Netanyahu family’s media adviser, a post he held until October 2017.

He signed a deal with the authorities, the police said Monday, that is likely to yield damning evidence in at least one bribery case in which Mr. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are suspects, and possibly others.

Mr. Hefetz joins Shlomo Filber, a former director-general of the Communications Ministry, in cooperating with investigators in a case alleging that Mr. Netanyahu provided favors to Israel’s largest telecommunications company, Bezeq, in exchange for fawning coverage. Mr. Netanyahu was serving as minister of communications at the time.

On Friday, Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu were questioned for hours about the case in separate locations — he in the official prime minister’s residence, she at the headquarters of the fraud investigations unit in central Israel. The police were reported to have surprised Mrs. Netanyahu by questioning her as a suspect, rather than just taking her testimony as a witness, and to have set up an elaborate six-way interrogation, questioning other main suspects, including Mr. Hefetz; Shaul Elovitch, the owner of Bezeq and a friend of Mr. Netanyahu’s; and his wife Iris, a friend of Mrs. Netanyahu’s, in separate rooms and feeding information to investigators.

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Nir Hefetz, a longtime adviser to Mr. Netanyahu, arriving in court in Tel Aviv last month. He has accepted a plea deal to testify against his former boss.CreditAriel Schalit/Associated Press

Mr. Hefetz also has been implicated in another case, involving allegations that he sought, through an intermediary, to bribe a judge into dropping a separate criminal investigation involving the misuse of public funds by Mrs. Netanyahu.

Last month the police recommended that Mr. Netanyahu be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in both of those cases. Israel’s attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit, has yet to decide whether to issue an indictment, pending a hearing with Mr. Netanyahu’s lawyers, a process that can take months.

Mr. Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday for meetings with Mr. Trump on Monday and to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, on Tuesday. Mr. Netanyahu has a close relationship with Mr. Trump, and has benefited at home by Mr. Trump’s decision to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Responding to the news of Mr. Hefetz’s deal with the authorities, a Netanyahu aide said in a statement: “When there is something there, you don’t need even one state witness. When you don’t have anything, even a thousand state witnesses won’t help. The incessant race after state witnesses is the best proof that there is nothing — and there will be nothing.”

Israeli pundits have been speculating for days on whether Mr. Netanyahu’s worsening legal situation would spur him to call an early election, given polls showing he still has the support of his voters. On Monday, however, they were raising the possibility that damaging testimony from Mr. Hefetz might dissuade him from the idea of rushing to the ballot box.

The new talk of early elections comes amid rising friction within Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition over an unrelated matter. The looming crisis involves a clash between two parties in the coalition over a proposed law formalizing the exemption of ultra-Orthodox youths from mandatory army service.

An ultra-Orthodox party insists on its passage before a vote on next year’s budget. The legislation does not appear to have the support of a majority in Knesset, since another party in the coalition opposes it.

Ministers from yet another party in the coalition, the far right Jewish Home, have described the coalition squabbling as a “fake” crisis, indicating that Mr. Netanyahu could resolve it if he wished.

David M. Halbfinger contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Legal Troubles Back Home Hound Netanyahu on Visit. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe